Introducing the Plenary Session A
June 28, 2008 (10:30 AM), University of Central Florida, Orlando
The Seventh International Vedic Conference
World Association for Vedic Studies (WAVES, Inc.)  www.wavesinternational.net.

Himendra Thakur
Coordinator
hthakur@comcast.net

Chaired by Dr. Satya Prakash Agarwal, the “Plenary Session A” focuses on the topic: "Key to Global Welfare for Next Generation in the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita", similar to the central Theme of the “Seventh International Vedic Conference.” Dr. Agarwal will initiate the Session by elucidating his life-long effort in invoking world attention to "lokasangraha" “Wellbeing of All”, the principal idea of Bhagavadgita that will bring peace and welfare to the future generations.

In the vast ocean of Vedic poetry, wisdom and rituals, Dr. Bisraam Rambilass, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and President, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Durban, South Africa, finds a shining gem in the Yajur Veda: Shiva as the reflection of Peace, the rock foundation of wellbeing of all. He presents this Vedic definition against the popular but erroneous view of Shiva as the God of death and destruction.  Dr. Krishna Bhatta, a medical doctor from Maine, USA, refutes the common mistake of using “aimlessness” as the meaning of “karmanyevadhikaraste……” He shows how Bhagavadgita teaches us to tone the thought process through abhyasayoga. 

Dr. Shashi Tiwari, a well-known Sanskrit Professor from the University of Delhi, points to the loss of the real meaning of Sanskrit phrases in translation into any language. She urges young technical students to learn Sanskrit as this is crucially a very scientific and logical language and carries innumerable knowledge. Especially she focuses in her paper on the learning of essential Upanishads by students so that they can progress in life with a perfect development. 

Whereas most of the economists blindly support a shortsighted “Growth” in a market economy that has pushed the common people of India today on the brink of starvation, we have two renowned economists, Dr. Madan Mohan Goel, Professor and Chairman, Department of Economics, Kurukshetra University, India, and Dr. Hari Bansh Jha, Professor of Economics, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, who advocate ethics in economics, in opposition to Laissez Fair and Pareto Efficiency that tend to turn economics and management sciences into a technique  of exploitation and deceit. To establish wellbeing of all, Dr. Goel and Dr. Jha reorient economics with the wisdom of spirituality, taking steps towards Mahatma Gandhi, who propounded the Truth that economic “Growth” cannot be held higher than human beings.

"There is nothing higher than the humans" "sabar upare manush satya, tahar upare nei" ---- the famous saying of Chandidas that Rabindranath Tagore made the essence of his writings ---  is what Professor Sitansu Sekhar Chakravarti of Toronto, Canada and a Visiting Professor in Comparative Religion at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, India, begins his paper on  “Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore: his humanism”. Tagore’s emphasis on samatva or sāmya in the Bhagavadgita leads the world to universal humanism in complete agreement of Mahatma Gandhi’s advocacy of simple life.

Appealing to younger generation, Himendra Thakur concludes the “Plenary Session A” with a sight from nuclear physics: we are all electrons and protons. What happened on July 16, 1945, the First Atomic Blast, was verily a prototype of what is happening in the galaxies and supernovas in the universe. Overwhelmed by the sight of the blast, Oppenheimer recited from Bhagavadgita, verse 32 chapter 11. This verse begins with the phrase KALOSMI, meaning progression of Eternal Time where we see the kernel Truth: Life on Earth is a very rare occurrence in this Lifeless Universe.  The crux of Bhagavadgita is to perpetuate Life (paritranaya sadhunam) with and through righteousness (dharma samsthapanarthaya) by taking care of each other---which is lokasangraha.